Two Northwest ISD students are under arrest and are facing felony charges after district officials said they collaborated on a "troubling and violent" document that outlined a plan to attack a middle school and named 32 students and staffers as targets.
In a statement obtained by NBC 5, Northwest ISD said a parent alerted administrators at Truett Wilson Middle School on Wednesday about a "concerning document" and that while looking into the report the district discovered a detailed plan to attack the campus.
Northwest ISD confirmed the online document also contained a "watch list" of 25 students and seven staffers at Wilson Middle School.
The district said school leaders are alerting the families of each student on the list and that additional safety and security personnel, as well as counselors, will be at the school for the remainder of the week.
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The district didn't reveal any other details about what was found in the document, but said the language used "mirrors similar terroristic threats issued at schools across the country."
"Today we partnered with the Fort Worth Police Department to take immediate action in response to a troubling and violent document maintained by several students," the district said. "All students involved in the creation and modification of this document will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law."
Northwest ISD confirmed two students "involved in the creation and editing of the document" had been arrested. The names and ages of the students arrested have not been released and it's presumed they are juveniles. The district did not confirm to NBC 5 whether the arrested students were enrolled at the middle school and only said they were "students of a Northwest ISD campus."
The district said any student involved in the document who has not been arrested will be held accountable according to district policy. Because student discipline is protected by FERPA, disciplinary responses are confidential. The district said, however, "It is our practice to assign three days of out-of-school suspension, pending investigation, for allegations of engaging in serious misconduct, such as terroristic threats."
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The district's investigation into the threat is ongoing and they are looking into whether any additional students had access to the document.
Northwest ISD said they were appreciative of the parent who alerted them to the document and added they are working closely with the Fort Worth police on the investigation. Anyone with additional details about the document or the investigation is asked to contact the Fort Worth Police Department at 817-392-4222.
Parents asking for reassurance of student safety
Parents in Haslet want more answers about the document circulated at Wilson Middle School.
Jenny Mathe sent her son to school Thursday morning only to rush right back and bring him home as she learned more about a shared file online which school leaders called 'troubling and violent.'
"As we were getting more news, and hearing more kids involved are still at the school, with the investigation ongoing, I decided it was best to take him out for the day," said Mathe.
"There's daily fights, bullying all the time at the school and stuff. And it just doesn't seem like anything's being done about it," said Frank Munoz, a parent of two students at Wilson.
He talked to us during his lunch hour, so concerned by what he was reading about what students were planning. He and other parents of students at Wilson Middle School say students seem more violent these days, fights and issues are becoming increasingly concerning.
"I wouldn't say weed out the kids and kick them out, it's more parents need to be more responsible for how their kids are acting in school," Munoz said.
A source inside Northwest ISD tells NBC 5 that several more students accessed and contributed to it. Students say it's circulated around the school since the beginning of the year.
"The principal is saying it's just a watch list, not a kill list but they're saying it's similar to terroristic threats, that's where it's concerning," said Mathe.
